Raffael R. Beier

Biography

Morocco – following the example of a typical developing country – has experienced rapid urbanisation. Since the mid-1990s, the majority of the Moroccan population is living in cities – many of them in informal, self-built shantytowns, called bidonvilles. After the suicide bombings in the city centre of Casablanca, conducted by bidonville dwellers in 2003, the Moroccan government has re-enhanced its efforts to tackle the ‘problem’ of shantytowns by announcing the ambitious program Villes Sans Bidonvilles (VSB) (cities without shantytowns). The VSB programme aims at eradicating all Moroccan shantytowns by relocating the dwellers to mostly peripheral, but serviced plots for auto-construction. Today, the dominant modus operandi includes the house construction by a private third party investor. The PhD project asks in how far the welfare of affected people change because of the VSB resettlement. This will be done through an analysis of factors of satisfaction among resettled bidonvilles dwellers as well as through a comparison of the socio-economic realities of resettled dwellers and households that continue living in bidonvilles. Based on that, the research asks whether the VSB programme increases socio-economic and gender-based disparities within the relocated households as well as between relocated households, indirectly affected stakeholder groups and households that continue living in bidonvilles.

Research Interest

Social Studies